1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suede-like raised woven fabric, and to a process for the preparation thereof. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with so-called suede cloth having a raised or soft fuzzy fibrous surface composed of numerous fine fibers, and with a process for producing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, suede-like raised woven fabrics comprising fine fibers have been known.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,678, issued on Feb. 11, 1975 to Okamoto et al, discloses a suede-like raised woven fabric which comprises raised fibers covering the surface of the woven fabric and an elastic polymer impregnated throughout the woven fabric. The woven fabric is made of a yarn or thread consisting of a bundle of extra fine fibers, the monofilament denier of which is in the range of from 0.0001 to 0.4 denier, as weft yarns, and a yarn having a coil-like crimp or a coil-like crimp capacity, the total denier of which ranges from 50 to 300 denier, as warp yarns, in which the raised fibers consist mainly of the extra fine fibers constituting the weft. This U.S. Patent discloses only "island-in-sea" type composite fibers or equivalent materials for generating the extra fine fibers. The island-in-sea type composite fiber can be converted into a bundle of the island component fibers by removing the sea component from the composite fiber. This type of composite fiber, however, is disadvantageous in that the sea component does not serve any purpose in the end use of the fiber as it has been removed. It is also disadvantageous in that removal of the sea component requires the use of an organic solvent. A further disadvantage of the use of island-in-sea type composite fibers is that removal of the sea component results in a considerable reduction in the weight, volume and density of the fiber article. The above-mentioned disadvantages, in turn, result in increased cost of end products formed from composite fibers and in difficulty in process control, environmental control and treatment of solvent waste. In addition, the suede-like raised woven fabric disclosed in this U.S. Patent is disadvantageout in that the surface abrasion and pilling resistances thereof are not satisfactory because of the poor fixation of the raised fibers. Since the bundle of the extra fine fibers has an extremely sharp monofilament denier distribution of between 0.0001 and 0.4 denier, the fabric also lacks suppleness.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 638,595 filed on Dec. 8, 1975 by K. Hayashi et al now U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,287, hollow composite fibers are disclosed, each being composed of at least four alternately arranged components of fiber-forming polyester and fiber-forming polyamide which are mutually adhered side-by-side and encompass a center hollow cavity and which extend along the longitudinal axis of the fiber to form a tubular body. Raised woven or knitted fabric of a suede finish is also disclosed as being produced therefrom. The hollow composite fibers do not have the drawbacks described for the island-in-sea type composite fibers. The suede-like raised woven fabric prepared from such hollow composite fibers has high resistance to surface abrasion and pilling. However, this U.S. Application neither takes into consideration the kinds of weft and warp yarns of the fabric nor specifies the average monofilament denier of fine fibers produced from the hollow composite fiber, with the consequence that the raised woven fabric disclosed in this prior application does not have satisfactory density and uniformity of the raised fine fibers or suppleness suited for commercial use.